Boston windsurfer and volunteer coordinator of windsurfing at Community Boating of Boston, Norman Priebatsch was hiking on the rim above Tuckerman Ravine yesterday when he tripped, fell and slid into a huge crevasse. Efforts to reach him or contact him were unsuccessful, and ultimately suspended because no safe access further under the ice exists.

Please send your best thoughts and prayers his way. If he is still alive, he is at least 130 feet under the ice for the second night and needs all he support possible._________________Support Your Sport. Join US Windsurfing!
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I dont understand exactly where he fell to but why cant they suspend a rope from a rescue helicopter and send a rope down into the same crevase which he fell into. At least he would have a rope to grab onto if he is alive. Sound like he needs rescue efforts. That must be horrible. Do you know any more. All our thoughts are with him.

Many friends are serious mountaineers and all agree that only a miracle will allow a rescue versus recovery operation. I'm still praying for that miracle. Norman and I were together on Saturday for the CBI rigging clinic. Shocking is not the half of it.

US Forest Service authorities said Tuesday the “situation remains grim” in the search for a Boston entreprenuer who slipped and fell down a deep crevasse while hiking in New Hampshire’s White Mountains Sunday, but the hiker’s family is holding out hope.

“We’ve been doing the same thing for two days, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst,’’ said Daniella Priebatsch, standing in the foyer Tuesday of the family’s Back Bay residence.

Her father, Norman Priebatsch, 67, was hiking the Tuckerman Ravine with three people, including his 23-year-old son, at 3:30 p.m. when he slipped and plunged at least 100 feet.

Priebatsch attended Temple Emmanuel in Newton, and on Tuesday, authorities there said a memorial service has been scheduled for him on Thursday at the temple.

The search at the Tuckerman Ravine was called off Sunday evening due to unsafe conditions, and authorities are unsure when those conditions will improve enough to lower another rescuer into the crevasse, as they did on Sunday.

Priebatsch slid about 20 feet down a rock band and down slope before he fell down the crevasse, said Tiffany Brenna, spokesowoman for the US Forest Service. Three people who were with him and witnessed his fall, including his 23-year-old son Seth Priebatsch, called out to him immediately afterwards, but there was no response, Brenna said.

On Sunday, a rescuer was lowered about 20 feet into the crevasse and indicated that there was an additional 80 foot drop below him. The rescuer was taken out of crevasse because of the unsafe conditions. Brenna said significant melting that has undermined the snow and that chunks of ice, some as large as cars, are unstable and may suddenly fall off.

Priebatsch co-founded a Newton-based company that is working on an iPhone application to treat tinnitus, an ear condition that affects hundreds of thousands of people.

“It’s a total shock, I’m just in disbelief,’’ said Priebatsch’s business partner, Peter Suzman, 59, a life-long friend.

Both men are from Johannesburg, South Africa. Priebatsch arrived in the US more than 30 years ago, to attend Harvard Business School, Suzman said.

“He’s always been a very hard-driven person, very gung-ho,’’ Suzman said in a telephone interview.

Suzman and Priebatsch worked together on two ventures, a biotech company named Adeptrix and another company called Tinnix that is working to develop an iPhone application to treat tinnitus, an ear ailment. The application is currently in the testing phase, Suzman said.

Suzman said his last conversation with Priebatsch was on Saturday and was business related, but Priebatsch mentioned that he was heading to the White Mountains.

“He frequently skied Tuckermans and climbed mountains up there. He was a very outdoors-type person, and his son and daughter are the same way. He windsurfed too. The phrase ‘full of life’ is overworked, but that’s what describes him. He’s about the most vigorous 67-year-old you can imagine.”_________________Support Your Sport. Join US Windsurfing!
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